Japan bought a record ¥7.98 trillion (about US$50.4 billion) of yen in a single day on 30 July, Finance Ministry data released on Monday show. More than three months later, the dollar is back above 158 yen, close to where it traded before the summer operations.
MoneyTurkey Currencies Desk | 9 November 2026
Key points
- Tokyo bought ¥7.98 trillion (about US$50.4 billion) of yen on 30 July, beating the previous one-day record of ¥6.28 trillion (about US$39.6 billion) set on 30 April.
- It also bought ¥5.55 trillion (about US$35.0 billion) on 31 July, the day the US joined in, and ¥1.87 trillion (about US$11.8 billion) on 3 August, for a three-day total of ¥15.4 trillion (about US$97.2 billion).
- The dollar was at 158.23 yen at about 6:25am London time on Monday, up from 157.50 on Friday, Yahoo Finance data show.
What the data show
The quarterly release breaks down by day the record ¥15.4 trillion (about US$97.2 billion) that Japan had already disclosed for its 30 July to 26 August reporting month. Traders had thought the action came over two days, so the third day, 3 August, was a surprise, Bloomberg reported via The Japan Times.
The operations came after the yen fell to the upper 163 range against the dollar in late July, its weakest in nearly 40 years, Kyodo reported. On 31 July Japan and the United States intervened together for the first time since 1998. The yen then briefly strengthened to the lower 155 range on 3 August.
The market angle
The record spend bought time rather than a new trend. The dollar is back at 158.23 yen, and the yen has slipped about 0.5% since Friday’s close. Tokyo stocks still rallied on Monday: the Nikkei 225 closed at 58,775.50, up 2.3% from Friday’s 57,434.77, Nikkei Indexes data show.
“The enormous scale of intervention underscored the government’s sense of urgency to stem the yen’s decline,” Tsuyoshi Ueno, senior economist at NLI Research Institute, told Reuters. He said the yen could stay under pressure because the situation around Iran, which he called a key driver of the yen’s weakness, has not been resolved.
For traders, the question is how close the dollar can get to the late-July highs near 164 yen before Tokyo steps in again. The next monthly intervention figures are due at the end of November.
What to watch
- Any warnings from Finance Ministry currency officials as the dollar holds above 158 yen
- The end-November monthly intervention figures
- Bank of Japan signals ahead of its December meeting
For information only. Not investment advice.
Sources
- Kyodo News: https://english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/90752
- Nippon.com (Jiji Press): https://www.nippon.com/en/articles/-/57102
- CNA (Reuters): https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/japans-july-yen-buying-intervention-sets-fresh-daily-record-6535001
- The Japan Times (Bloomberg): https://www.japantimes.co.jp/business/2026/11/09/markets/japan-july-sept-yen-intervention/
- Ministry of Finance: https://www.mof.go.jp/english/policy/international_policy/reference/feio/index.html
- Yahoo Finance (USD/JPY, Nikkei 225): https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/JPY%3DX/
